PB & J

  So E decides he wants a peanut butter and jelly sammie. Pieces (or the little growth, as he is always under foot as of late) is right there beside E. Being the independent kid E is, he gets it all and makes it, under the careful eye of the little growth. Pieces, as little brothers are apt to do, decides he now wants a pb&j too. Seeing as how he just woke up, and in the 2 short years of his life he has never been hungry right after waking up from a nap, it usually takes a bit for him.

  So I argue with him, you don't want one. "Yes" he says. "Yes. Yes."
  "No, I know what's going to happen, you're going to waste it"
  I know you all know how adamant a 2yr old can be... and he was stomping and yelling and screaming about how he swore he would eat it. "Oh, need it I do daddy, like a jedi needs the force. Gimme!!!"
  I succumb to the pleadings and give in, making a pb&j to appease the Gods. I give it extra love, cut it into dino shapes, it's perfect.
  "There" I say, presenting a pb&j that should be in a museum.
   My precious son reacts in form, shaking his head and screaming no while running away. I have noone to blame but myself.
It was good though.

E's Birthday!

Well, E is an old man. On Oct  4 he officially turned 8. We had a little party at his grandparents house, mostly family and a couple of friends. He had a good time! Got some really neat presents... a gross and disgusting science kit where he can make boogers, fake blood and stuff like that. 

His aunt got him 8 wooden models to put together, 4 were done that night. His parents got him a Razer scooter that he can't get enough us. 

I didn't get to bake a cake for him he saw one at Hy-Vee he wanted. There were lots of red balloons and a big Chiefs helmet balloon.

 The Chiefs balloon is still floating around right now!

Thanks to everyone who came. You made it a great day for him!

Borked PC = Lazy Me

My computer is down, I've been having to use the wife's. I have taken this opportunity to take a quick blogging break and be a little lazy with the kids. I feel that now, since I am blogging, I have to do more to have something to blog about. So, while the pc is down we'll just be a little lazy and At Home Daddy will return in a while! Upcoming are pics of E's 8th birthday, watching the big trucks lay pavement, a trip to the Firestation and Red Barn Farm!

Big Trucks

Pieces spilled milk on my keyboard and ruined it, so this isn't the easiest blog post to write. :(

Today, thanks to Obama's stimulus package, the street in front of my building is undergoing a much needed facelift. It was covered in pot holes and craters that could eat your car. According to my sister you could fall in one and not get found for 20 years.

They are currently tearing the roadway up, so on this beautiful day we decided to go sit and watch them work. I talked about trucks and cars. The kids had a great time watching the roadway leave and once the workers saw the children they were waving and honking horns. They loved it too. I took pics.

A Cake Story

This weekend was fun. Friday afternoon I got the reminder I was making the cake for Dad's birthday party on Saturday. A little miscommunication but no big deal, nothing I haven't caused before, it's nothing I won't cause again. So I begin... I can get up early on Saturday, bake it, pop in freezer and start busting out some fondant. Yank said cake out of freezer, cut, fondant up decorate and go! Sounds easy right? Yeah.

 So I get Mandy to find a couple cake mixes that will work. Got it. I get up early and start mixing. It's going well, getting the cake mixed up fine. Double check eggs and amount of water, so far so good. I turn on the oven, separate the batter and pop into oven. Timer set. I've got a couple minutes to chill while it bakes. After some boring tv and the kids still sleeping (thank you for that quiet time) I hear the buzzer. I open the oven to... smoke. What did I do? I quickly pull out the cakes to find one burnt and the other burnt on the outside but still liquid in the middle. This, dear readers, is what happens when you don't double check the temperature on the oven. I baked that poor cake at 450° for 35 mins. Not a mistake I will be making again soon.

Off to put Banana and Pieces down for a nap! Until next time.

Potty Training

Let me start by saying I think we potty train our children too early. I think we start and push too far too soon. I'm as guilty as the next person. For me it comes from not wanting to be that close to stinky, poopy diapers anymore. I love my kids, but changing diapers gets old... fast. That being said, here is how I potty trained my kids. It worked well for E and I've seen signs it'll work well with Pieces, but I'm not ready for him to start.

Wilson Potty Training 101

1. Be prepared for mess ups. They happen, get over it.
2. have plenty of underwear on hand. mess ups happen.
3. Mentally prepare for the mess ups that will come. It's ok.
4. I like to use real words, toilet, poop, pee, penis, vagina etc. I figure let them learn the other stuff later. Teach them the scientific terms and use them with vigilance.

Ok, here we go:
Day 1: Show the the toilet. Make a big deal of what's coming. Explain what the toilet is for and how it works. Let them flush it. Let them wash their hands. Pretend for a bit. A peeing doll is nice, but not necessary.
Day 2: Repeat day 1 and add about how tomorrow is Big Girl/Boy day. play with underwear. It's ok to play with it, let them see it. We all use the toilet. It's no big deal. Continue throughout day explaining about how the toilet is for poop and pee. Get a good night's rest. Both of you.
Day 3: Get fluids ready. I don't do salt, it holds water. We want them to pee. As soon as they wake up, grab some brand new undies and head to bathroom. Put them on toilet and have them try. No more than 4-5 mins trying. Ever. Put on new underwear. Spend the rest of the day going to the bathroom to try every 30-45 mins. Give drinks all day. repeat. repeat. talk about the toilet and what it's used for.
Day 4: Repeat day 3.
Day 5: You should see improvement on own by now. If not.. I'd suggest trying again in a month. Go back to diapers. Don't mention the toilet at all and try again in a month. The same way.

Never demean or force your child to use the bathroom. Accidents are no big deal, so don't make them into one. But go to toilet and try there after every accident. This is how children get scarred. I don't believe in training pants, pull ups that stuff. Into undies and away we go. During the night I'd limit fluids and try right before bed. I'd go to sleep knowing I'm changing sheets and oftentimes I'm pleasantly surprised. Banana got thru the 2nd night fine and hasn't looked back. I've trained both a boy and a girl this way and it's worked for me. I hope it does for you. I'd love to hear how it went.

Dealing with anger

This is taken from a workbook on parenting. It's actually a good read and as soon as I find it, I'll post the name.

Responses that reduce anger.

Anger understandably occurs when a person of any age is overpowered. Because young people have so many rules to learn, they are likely to feel overpowered many times a day. (something I had not thought about before) Thinking that children should accept your decisions without comment will only make you frustrated and do little to resolve the situation in a productive way. Understand that refusing to allow children to express any anger at all is just as destuctive as allowing them to vent however they please.

Labeling and feeding back feelings are teh first steps in teaching children how to express diestress without acting out inappropriately. Making at least three statements that rephrase, understand validate or encourage children to express feeings can reduce anger. For example:

• "You don't like it when I correct you. I see you are really angry. You can stomp your foot (scream in this pillow, smash this cane, draw a picture, give me a mean look) to show me how angry you are. I know it's hard to have to learn so many rules.
• I know you don't like being on restriction until your grades improve. It must tear  your heart out not to be able to talk to your friends everynight. For a while, you may be very upset with me because I am holding firm.

Postpone talking to children if you are too angry to listen and feedback feeling. Tell them, "I'm too upset for talking right now. We'll discuss this when we've both calmed down." It helps to give both sides to a chance to think so talking can be done clearly.

On a side note I have a 7 and 2 yr old, it's alright to sound like a dork. I would try to word it differently when I was talking to a older child. You need to practice and remind yourself to do it. Don't forget it takes time to get something down and doing it as a response to a child's anger can be especially difficult. breathe. think. react. I don't do or react like this all the time, every time. What I am learning to do is recognize when I react and how I react. It is a process.